Basin chooses Walworth County for potential power plant

February 15, 2008|By Scott Waltman, American News Writer

Walworth County will be the site of a new coal-fueled power plant if North Dakota-based Basin Electric decides to build the facility. The decision was made Wednesday and announced by Basin Electric Thursday morning in a press release. A number of factors will impact whether the so-called NextGen plant is built, according to Basin Electric. They include economics, transmission reliability and regulatory approval. The decision is "just another step in a long painstakingly slow process," said Basin Electric CEO Ron Harper in the press release. Walworth County was one of three areas Basin Electric was looking at when considering where to build. The others were in the Onida/Blunt area and near Stanton, N.D. The cost of the plant could approach $2 billion.